[Poll] Grade the game

Very mixed results, overall id say pretty well recieved. Looking like a solid B in this unofficial poll.

 

I do like deck building, and the action feel of a lot of the combat. Exploring, admiring other peoples houses I cannot afford. And I enjoyed some of the quests as well particularly the Truth ending. Amazing.

I dont like the repetition or the fact that PvP areas like Shardfalls/Ruins are basically cluttered up obstacle courses that seem to by their very design make pvping someone inside one quite difficult. Quel Shardfall. PvP zone? Really? If I dreamt up the most annoying map I could possibly ever imagine, it would be covered in fallen trees, with burning ground, and random lightning bolts trying to obliterate half your health and perforate your eardrums.

Its like trying to have a game of football with a brick in a minefield.

 

I dig the near endless grind to actually improve my character and fill him with life

I don't like how housing is handled.

 

I would probably not be playing any games still if my friend didnt show me this game. Its got many aspects I really like, the deck system is like a mini magic the gathering game to me, the freedom with skills, being able to talk to the devs, those are the 3 aspects that got me to play a game again.

 

I dig the near endless features and details! Really it is amazing!

I don't like RMT and the surrender to the game scammers.

 

What I dig: spell FX in general, many scene artwork and worldbuilding is done well.

What I don't dig: not allowed to say.

 

Dig - The progression / deck system
Don't Like - The economy. There is no motivation for the majority of the crafting trees, the loot feels like a junk spam at high levels, and regional economy is a joke.

 

Dig - combat/deck systems
Don't like - P2w ( being able to get fully geared toon, when you start the game, if you bring the dollars with you) / Endless grind

 

C

I dig the character development

I don't dig the sound-scaping or rather its almost total absence.

Overall it feels like it's pre-old school rather than old school and as a backer and long time Ultima fan it saddens me a little.

 

Copying what I posted elsewhere

C/B- since I'm back to playing and joining a larger guild again there is something that keeps me hooked

Like: Combat deck system, choice of how you want to build your character, what little PvP content there is, depth of customizing gear in crafting, some of the music (though there is so little and I've heard it to death I just have it muted), some of the scene designs are truly gorgeous, group content, world building in things like the books you can read, player made events like Virtue League

Dislike: RMT focus, half finished systems, clashing artstyles, lack of clear tooltips/math behind systems, significant changes to systems and balance release to release, decay, sound effects and lack there of, loading times between overworld/instances, how dialog is handled and the quests I've done so far have been lackluster, the way devs handle criticism

 

I missed that as well. I've been with the community and game since the kickstarter. I consider myself one of the lucky ones. It was a risk. One I was happy to take early on.

BTW, There are further episodes coming online in future years. Additional land masses will be discovered.

I've already made up plans for my future town. Eventually That's where I'll be spending a lot more of my time

 

I dig the setting, and the chance to actually PLAY a character. I also dig the skill system.

I don't dig crafting. I get the RNG aspect, but I feel that there is too much to invest for so little benefit. Maybe changes to crafting and making it something less of a killer of investment would be good. I know they are bouncing around a lot of ideas to make crafting better. I don't mind "losing" at crafting some of the time, if ultimately I feel like I make progress and can "win" a little bit. I know there are a lot of players that play for the economics of crafting: making a name for themselves, getting gold, etc. I really like crafting to be a long-term goal for myself, so I can make some of my own gear. But that is not really feasible for me at the moment.

Maybe an anecdote is appropriate, but forgive me for brining up WoW: In WoW, I became a tailor, and spent time leveling it up to max. For me, that was a time investment, because I can't afford to play every day, all day - I know some people do, and would scoff at that achievement which they did in roughly the same amount of time, just in a shorter period of time. This was in Vanilla, I think, but there were orbs you could get from raid drops. Super rare. I got a few. I use one I got, and I sold one I got. That felt like progress. Also, there was a helm that literally looked like Magneto's helm. I wanted it. But dang, it require skinning an item from a boss - and it required skinning at max level I think (or maybe at like 80% of max). I went and learned to skin. I spent weeks and weeks trying to get groups together to get to that boss and skin it. I lost LOTS of rolls on the loot. But that was fun. It was a challenge. My guild lovef going on dungeon runs. I think I got to skin the boss once, but RNG failed me. And that was ok. I never did get that material, and I never created the helm. I think it was nerfed after an expansion - or made useless. But it was fun nonetheless.

I miss that here.

And that's another thing I don't dig. No dungeons to run for chances at loot. Yes, I can go to "dungeons" and just farm, but its not the same.

I rated a "B" because this is a game I always come back to even if go on "vacation" to other games for a week or two. And the things I dislike are outweighed by all the things I do like.

 

Gave 'er an A grade m'self.

Reason bein': I'm glad ol' bottle o' Port stayed true to the message in 'er bottle. She's not just another WoW clone, an' I'll give 'er that! Kickstart 'er fer the win lads n' lass's!

Things I don't like, Arrrrr, landlubbers! If these seas aren't fer ye then ol' bottle o' Port ought teh be makin' ye walk the plank already! The mates be gettin' restless, but the winds be changin' as o' late, so my beard hairs be gettin straighter again!

Yo-ho-ho!

 

Like: I like the new scenes good job
Dislike : new lichs are only in pvp zone only one for us and i could be happy

 

As of RIGHT NOW (Release 52/Retail Release) I gave it a solid B

Pro: After 5 years of development, feedback, tweaking, and growing, in my opinion, SotA now feels like a Lord British/Ultima game. This is with the additional goodness of gathering, crafting, and persistence elements of an persistent world/MMO.

Con: Even at release, there are still a good number of cloned scenes, especially NPC towns such as Eachmarch (where I have my home currently, and yes, I know that is slated for revamp next release) and there are adventure scenes that have little content beyond resident mobs and resource nodes. I'm hoping the goal is to flesh out every area so that there is reason beyond exploration and farming. Had the currently cloned scenes been completed, SotA would be much closer to an A.

 

The thing at first I did not like was the deck building. It was new and different for me. But NOW I just LOVE the deck building system.
And adjusting what you put your XP into, you can really fine tune how your Avatar develops its skills.
The other thing I'm enjoying, is as I explore I stumble into scenes that have all new content added. Exploring and doing side quests
is what I enjoy. New content is being added every month. If they had a larger budget, I would have loved to see more voice acting get
added to the NPCs you encounter.

 

Like : housing design system

Dislike : non immersive environment (can't drop items and interact with them, only nodes can be harvested, etc).

 

Pros : it's Ultima. It has Shrines, It has Virtues, It has Anti-Virtues. It has cool items done the way I like in games. Cool Community. Housing. Cool Place Names. Big Map. Diversity of Scenes. Cool Crafting

Cons: Inventory/Quest Bugs.. No Ships, No Horses, Economy is somewhat broken, Endless Grinding very boring mobs, Limited Exploration Options. No Underworld. Character Models